Call Tipsy Tow in Northern, CA, NV and UT if you're too drunk to drive home on NYE

If you drink, you don't have to drive. Especially on New Year's Eve. This morning I found out about a program called "Tipsy Tow" from my friend Holly. AAA's Tipsy Tow is a free 10 mile tow home after 6:00 PM Dec. 31st until 6:00 AM Jan. 1st. The coolest part? You don't even have to be a member of AAA to use the service so if you're going out to party on NYE load this number into your smart phone right now in case you need a ride this weekend: 800-222-4357 or remember 800-AAA-HELP and ask for a "Tipsy Tow"

To find out if the program is offered in your city in CA, NV or UT CLICK HERE and enter your Zip Code. If the website directs you to the Tipsy Tow page the service is available where you live. If it directs you to the AAA home page it is not offered where you live.

Here in Northern California there's no need to drink and drive. There are several options:

Northern California: (800) 222-4357 AAA's Tipsy Tow Free within 10 miles 6:00 PM December 31, 2011 through 6:00 AM January 1, 2012. The service will provide a one-way ride for the driver and vehicle to the driver's home. If there are additional passengers who need a ride, they will be taken to the driver's home as long is there is sufficient room for them to be transported safely in the tow truck.
Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland: (800) 281-4488 for free Veteran Cab ride cab home within the city limits (up to $35). Rides home can be given from the East Bay to San Francisco, but not from San Francisco to the East Bay. Patrons must pay any remaining balance in cash. Credit cards will not be accepted.
Sacramento: (916) 444-2222 for a free Yellow Cab Company of Sacramento (up to $35). Patrons must be picked up at a restaurant, hotel, or bar within Downtown Sacramento to qualify for a free ride. Rides home must be within Sacramento.
San Francisco For a free ride within the city (up to $35) call Luxor Cab at (415) 282-4141.

The cab rides listed above are Courtesy of Berg Injury Lawyers
They will be offering their Safe and Sober program from 10 p.m. Saturday, January 31, 2011 through 4 a.m. Sunday, January 1, 2012. Due to the program's popularity, a cap of $35 per ride is in place so you'll need to pay the difference over that amount. For a ride home call the appropriate cab company listed above and tell them the ride is on Berg Injury Lawyers. BTW Kudos to Berg Injury Lawyers. I can tell you right now sponsoring a service like this, not everyday TV Commercials, is what has now made your company memorable to me.

There are safe driving programs set up nationwide so even if Tipsy Tow is not available in your area there's a chance another program is. CLICK HERE to view a nationwide list of both free and paid options to get you home safely and keep everyone else on the road safe over New Year's Eve.

AAA Offers Free Tipsy Tow in Northern California, Nevada and Utah on New Year Eve; Other Free Ride Options

---

Arrested in San Jose? Call Zig Zag Bail Bonds

Recently I watched a tv show about how much it sucks to get arrested for DUI or DWI. First of all it's humiliating. You have to take that field sobriety test on the side of the road. On the show the woman who failed was then arrested, booked, shackled to a metal pipe in a jail cell and had to call a friend for help to be bailed out. It's also expensive. The fines and court costs add up quickly, you'll lose your car for months or a year and possibly go to jail. Like I said, it all sucks.

And that's the good news because if you managed to get yourself arrested without injuring or killing an innocent bystander the amount of fines and jail time will be far lower than if you do. And of course there's always the chance you'll injure or kill yourself. IT IS NOT WORTH IT!

Seriously.

Santa Clara's Main Jail

Even when you're doing everything right life can turn on a dime and everything you have today, your health, your home, your friends, family and job can be gone in an instant so don't tempt fate and take a risk like driving buzzed or drunk. Please, don't do it. Think of everything you have and everyone you love and call for a ride. Not just on NYE, every day of the year.

BTW, I can afford to help friends with no money for a cab who find themselves stranded because they're too buzzed or drunk to drive (or the person you rode with is no longer safe to drive with) by coming to pick you up. I cannot however, afford to bail you out of jail.

New Years Resolutions 2012: Blog more and better!

My goal has always been about quality vs. quantity when it comes to posting frequency here on The Flirty Blog.

With that in mind I'd recently been wondering if it's possible to publish a post of quality every single day. Then this morning I saw this intriguing post on BlogHer:

Join Us for Daily Blogging with January's NaBloPoMo
"If you've never joined NaBloPoMo, this is the time to do so. It starts January 1st and run until January 30th. Just make the commitment to (1) blog daily for the month (nothing more to it than that!) and (2) to support your fellow NaBloPoMo'ers by reading a handful of the other blogs on the blogroll. Cheer them along and they'll cheer you on too. You can sign up for January's NaBloPoMo until January 5th. You can grab the official badge here and upload a link to the badges you make."

I signed up, then Googled to find out what NaBloPoMo meant. LOL. Turns out it's an acronym for "National Blog Posting Month" which means you are committing to publishing a post a day on your personal or professional blog. NaBloPoMo originally took place in November but is now a year long movement where you can sign up for whichever month appeals to you most.

I'm going to have a go at the January 2012 NaBloPoMo challenge. Let me know if you sign up too and I'll make sure to take a peek at your posts each day :)

Lunch and the Municipal Pier at San Francisco's Aquatic Park

I'd heard of Aquatic Park before. I knew it was somewhere in San Francisco. Little did I know that I'd been across the street from it on many, many occasions. I also didn't know that San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is SF's Aquatic Park. It encompasses more than just the Maritime Museum and water beside it. It includes everything north of Beach Street between Hyde and (the end of) Van Ness Blvd.

So, hubby and I decided to head up to San Francisco a few days ago to take pictures at Aquatic Park.

First came lunch. While we'd planned to eat at McCormick and Kuleto's, where we'd eaten the past two years on trips to the city, after being kind of snubbed by the hostess and totally snubbed by the waitress we left and walked across the way to Lori's Diner at Ghirardelli Square. They were also busy but we were immediately greeted by a waitress from behind the counter who said she'd be with us in just a minute. In less than a minute she was walking us to a table. It was nice to receive great customer service, especially on a busy day.

Lori's is a very cute, quintessential dine. Our waiter appeared promptly after we were seated and took our orders. I had an ALT (avocado, lettuce and tomato) sandwich loaded with so much avocado it was spilling out of the sides.

The restaurant even has a Bay view. Looking out the window reminded me of this photo I took just last month while attending the Fairmont Hotel's open house at Heritage Place, which is part of Ghirardelli Square.

That's Alcatraz at sunset in the center of the picture and what looks like a pirate's ship in the right foreground. Our destination after lunch  was to walk out to the end of the pier you see on the left with the round structure just peeking out from behind the branches. It's San Francisco's Municipal Pier where Van Ness Ave ends and meets McDowell Road.

You reach it by crossing Beach Street in front of Ghirardelli Square and walk westward along  the water following Van Ness Ave.

Soon you'll see this building on stilts along the water's edge.

It's the Sea Scout Base for the Maritime Heritage Learning Center. We stopped and took photos of it, hubby from the lawn at street level and me, climbing down onto a plateaued sea wall.

The pilings, water and shadows were fun to photograph.

As we made our way along Van Ness there were plenty of photo opportunities. The large pirate looking ship is a Balclutha. It was launched in 1886 from Scotland. It's a three-masted, steel-hulled, square-rigged cargo ship. It's very picturesque and you can't help but to notice it when you gaze out towards the Bay from Ghirardellli Square.

Turning my camera the opposite direction I spotted this nice bit of architecture. I wanted to photograph it mostly because it was backlit and since learning how to shoot in manual mode I've been very intrigued to learn more about backlit photography. Especially when combined with a hazy kind of day.

Here's a view of the Municipal Pier at the end of Van Ness from the westward side.

It arcs to the right creating a semi-circle shape.

As you enter the gates to the pier you'll see Alcatraz straight ahead.

I love this shot. The small boats lead the viewer's eye towards Coit Tower in the distance creating a nice compositional flow. I especially loved the way the reflection of the closest white boat looks like a water color painted in the waves.

On the other side of the pier you can see Alcatraz in the distance. Due to atmospheric conditions (stagnant air) combined with a lot of people burning wood in their fireplaces over the holiday the haze from air pollution was very noticeable all the way from San Jose to San Francisco.

Playing with my camera I experimented shooting the light posts along the pier. This was facing northward with the sun hitting the post and light. Pretty, but I wanted to try more backlighting so I came up with two variations.

The first, facing south, is of the light with the sun aligned directly behind the glass cover at the top giving it an intense glow.

The second is a different light post with the sun placed directly behind the middle of the post. I like this one better because it shows the transparency of the glass cover.

I thought I'd like this photo as black and white so I converted it using the Image+Mode+Greyscale to turn it into a black and white picture in Adobe Photoshop. I think it looks rather timeless and all of that air pollution haze with just the tiniest rays of lens flare gives the image an ethereal look I really love.

---

For the curious: All images were shot RAW in manual mode with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 camera and zoom 14-140mm lens. For the blog they were rendered as .JPG files in Photoshop.

Merry Christmas from the Flirty Girl

This Christmas Day I got a bit nostalgic thinking about past Christmases. It started when I decorated my tree for the first time in years. Then I thought about past trees, the places I used to live, friends and family who have passed away and are no longer with us, the bowling alley pizza we'd eat on Christmas Eve (my uncle worked there) and the prime rib dinner my Auntie Mary would serve at her house each Christmas night. I also thought about the 600 cookies I used to bake and ship each year and more recently, Kitai opening his wrapped presents with as much excitement as any human kid ever has :D

I suspect my family loved me more when I sent them cookies boxes. LOL

I think what triggered my nostalgia was seeing all of the holiday photos, fun and goodwill posted on my friend's Facebook walls. I love seeing them and appreciate how much they can make others feel really good. Reading about other people's happiness feels like being wrapped in a cozy blanket of goodwill.

Yesterday my friend Mia posted this quote which I shared on Facebook and received back a large response of likes and comments from other friends letting me know that despite the commercialization of Christmas, when it comes down to it, it's all about what's in our hearts that matters most:

"Christmas gift suggestions: to your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect."

- Oren Arnold

So today I wish you and yours all of the above and more. I hope you and your family have a wonderful day filled with many happy moments that, when you look back on them next year, will become special memories that make you smile :)

Eco-friendly: A fabric gift wrap idea you already have at home

Here it is: Instead of wrapping our gifts to each other in paper, hubby and I wrap them in pillow cases and bed sheets. I add ribbon for a fancier touch and  even reuse the ribbon each year. LOL

To be honest I'm not sure why hubby likes this idea. I like it because it's eco-friendly. I think he likes it because it's less work than wrapping with paper.

Every year I keep saying I'm going to buy some cute holiday fabric and sew a few pillow case style bags in different sizes for small and medium sized items and have a few larger flat sheets for bigger boxes. With holiday fabric they would be so much more festive looking. But I still haven't got around to it so I decided to show them to you as they are.

For the large box I used a flat sheet with three small binder (paper) clips to clip the fabric from two sides together across the top. I created hospital corners with the extra fabric and drew up the other two sides and tied them across the top with a piece of ribbon.

The effect of opening a fabric wrapped gift is the same as a paper wrapped gift. It just takes a little less time and there's nothing to throw away after :)

A great no flash food photography tip for dark restaurants

I read an article on Sign on San Diego earlier this year about the phenomenon of people photographing their food in restaurants. It was quite surprising. Most of the chefs interviewed said they take it as a compliment when they see diners taking pictures of their food. And many of the chefs and professional foodies in the article admit they do the same when dining out.

The Molten Chocolate Lava Cake at Cascade Bar and Grille

What surprised me most was the gripe other diners have isn't that people taking pictures in restaurants is distracting to them (with the exception of too much flash), their main issue with amateur food photographers is that they feel the pictures won't do justice to the food itself, damaging the reputation of the restaurant when they were share the images with others. I took that to mean if you're going to take food  pictures to share you better make darn sure the pictures are good.

While daytime photography can be fairly unobtrusive, night food photography can be far more challenging. There's no arguing using a flash in a dimly lit room is going to be distracting. Not only that but often the photos don't come out very good because the flash is too bright. Take the photo below for example.

Standard flash on left. Flash turned down on right.

Both images are blown out (too bright) but the one on the left is far worse than the one on the right. The cool thing about my point and shoot (Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3) is that it has an adjustable flash where I can lower the intensity of the light often dramatically improving my end result. In this instance the image on the right is still too bright but it's better than the first one and fairly typical of the quality of food shots you'll see online.

Another drawback is that too much flash will create stark areas of contrast, brightly lit subjects next to areas with too much shadow causing the picture to look very flat and the food unappealing.

No supportive light source on the left, with supportive light on the right.

For me, one of the most annoying issues when not using a flash at night is trying to achieve a good white balance (always set your white balance indoors) so your food pictures don't come out with a weird red or yellow cast because of the interior lighting fixtures. If your camera has a Raw file option you can use it, instead of JPEG, and correct your white balance later but many point and shoots and phone cameras don't have the capability to shoot in Raw so how can you get a better picture like the one on the right above?

As it happened my friend Carl figured out this awesome little trick. We were on one of our food tours and I'd mentioned I wanted to get a little LED light pack to carry around with me so that I wouldn't have to use a flash but could instead use an external light source to photograph food in less than optimal conditions.

Just a short time later genius struck Carl! He pulled out his iPhone, turned on the flashlight app he'd installed and lit the dish. It was a HUGE improvement over flash or no flash!

 So basically I hold my phone with the flashlight in my left hand and hold and shoot the camera with my right hand. It's not the best way to take a picture but it works :)

Since then I've used this trick several times including last night when Hubby, our friend Harpreet and I went out to dinner at Pacific Catch at the Pruneyard Shopping Center. I thought it was a traditional seafood place but it's actually an Asian fusion restaurant. And when I say fusion I don't mean subtly. It may be the perfect place because I can get some tasty sushi and hubby can get classic fish and chips. This place was made for us!

For instance here's my Agave Lemonade without white balance or flash. I did increase the exposure setting to let in as much light as possible and this was as good as it got.

Bring out my iPhone flashlight and this shot improved immensely. What I love about the flashlight is I can face my phone downward on my lap and raise it up above the table without ever flashing the light at anyone at another table. It's as unobtrusive as you can get adding more light to your shot.

Instead of a basket of bread, your table is given a small dish of shelled edamame and goldfish pretzels to tide yo over while you wait for your food.

While not perfect, the results I achieve using the iPhone flashlight are quite good. While I'd love to spend more time setting up the shot, I don't want to cause a distraction for diners who don't appreciate those of us who can't resist photographing our food. For a quick shot taken at the table with a point and shoot camera I'm pleased with the end result the iPhone flashlight has been producing.

By the way, my vegetarian Sunset sushi roll was really, really good. It's a maki (roll style) filled with tempura sweet tofu, green bean, scallion & carrot, wrapped in an outer layer of avocado, rice & nori and drizzled with teriyaki sauce. And the lemonade was the best I've ever had. It was more tart, less sweet. I will definitely order this meal again.

If you love bread pudding head to Santa Cruz and Nuevo Southwest Grill

ETA: This restaurant closed the year after I published this post.

My expectations were sky high. My foodie friend Carl had been raving about Nuevo Southwest Grill's Sweet Potato Bread Pudding for over a year.

I loved the table top as much as the bread pudding!

My friend Orbie also told me, more than once, I had to go try it. Well, today I finally did. And guess what? It was as good as they said it would be. The caramel sauce was spectacular! Really.

For some reason I thought the bread would be orange but it wasn't. There were small bits and pieces of sweet potato in the bread, you could see them, but not nearly as much as I'd expected. Yummy! It was warm, moist and not too sweet to offset the sweetness of the caramel sauce.

The first time I had Saturn Cafe's Jalapeno Burger was March 2011

Thank you to Orbie and Carl for taking me to Nuevo so that I could finally try the bread pudding. It was even better than both of you said it would be :) And lunch at the Saturn Cafe beforehand was delicious as always! I LOVE their spicy, vegetarian, Jalapeno Burger.

Carl just did a blog post about Nuevo this morning so if you want to read about their food and sangrias CLICK HERE. And Orbie raved about their fresh aqua frescas so if you're an aqua fresca fan be sure to order one with your bread pudding :) Today's flavors were watermelon and honey dew.

The Best Christmas Lights in San Jose, CA

Well I finally did it. Something I've wanted to do ever since I saw the movie Christmas Vacation. I went and saw some over-the-top Christmas light displays put up by some very nice and community spirited people.

Click on each image to enlarge

I found them by typing "best christmas lights san jose" into Google. Up came the website California Christmas Lights, a resource of the best holiday lights in Silicon Valley.

This is 2474 Schubert Ave, San Jose, CA

Homeowner Dave just happened to step out to walk his dog while hubby and I were out front with our cameras on tripods. We were still there when he got back so he stayed and chatted us up for awhile.

These are all LED lights so he said his electricity usage is surprisingly economical for as many lights as you'll see wrapping his house, shrubs, trees, reindeer and the many other decorations on his lawn, driveway and roof.

Turns out the eight reindeer on his front lawn were garage sale finds. If you ever decide to get rid of your white wire reindeer you might want to swing by and drop them off. Dave will refurbish them with a fresh coat of paint, string new lights through them and either decorate his own home with them or gives them to friends and family so they can decorate their yards like his.

Though I'm sure no one else's yard looks just like his. It's truly a winter wonderland when you stand on the sidewalk and gaze at his masterpiece.

I especially loved this little holiday penguin.

Dave's house is in San Jose near the Cambrian Park area with the closest main arterial being Leigh x Curtner

We then headed west to visit a multiplex at 595 Nido Drive, Campbell, CA

This display in particular focuses on peace as it is a memorial to Christine Noela Orciuch by her niece Debi. A description at the four plex says that the four men responsible for her death were each given life in prison without the possibility of parole. One, received life plus 38 years.

I came home, Googled her name and learned that Christine, a mother of three, wife and all around kind hearted person was holding open the credit union door for a man on crutches, when she became the innocent victim of an armed bank robbery. She had walked into the robbery in progress, turned to run and was shot through the heart just outside the bank as one of her children (her 11 year old son) waited in the car.

Debi single handedly puts up this display each year and was outside putting up more decorations when we arrived so I was able to say hello and chat with her for just a bit. Her lights are more than just a display to view from the sidewalk, there are plenty of signs that invite visitors to step into the courtyard to see the rest of her winter wonderland. There are many smaller vignettes in the courtyard including this lit train set.

And a traditional Christmas tree.

The nearest main arterial is South Winchester Blvd x Budd Ave

Debi and Dave are both really nice people. The kind of friendly people you can sometimes forget exist these days. They both open their hearts to strangers by spreading the Christmas spirit not just for their friends and family or even their neighbors to enjoy as most of us do, they share their love of Christmas with the entire Bay Area. Both Dave and Debi are thrilled when people take the time to come visit their light displays.

There are still a few more locations I'm hoping to visit by Christmas Day. I'll keep you posted if we go. This was a fun way to learn more about night photography still shooting in manual mode using the new camera and a tripod. I think it was pretty successful :)

You can view more locations of great light displays at www.CaliforniaChristmasLights.com